February 2012 new vehicle registrations in New Zealand continued the strong start to the year, according to the local auto importers’ association.
New passenger car registrations of 5,633 were up 16% year on year in February with commercial registrations flat at 1,552 registrations, down 0.5%. Year to date, new passenger cars were up 18.7%.
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“Members and their dealers are happy with these numbers” said Perry Kerr, chief executive officer of the Motor Industry Association.
“New passenger car sales are particularly buoyant, however, light commercial registrations are still being impacted by stock shortages resulting from the Thailand floods of late last year. We were not expecting supplies to get back to normal for a few months yet” he said.
Toyota remained top in passenger car registrations (772 for the month) with Hyundai second (620) following by GM Holden (600). Year to date positions were identical – Toyota (2,512) Hyundai (1,400) and Holden (1,394).
In the commercial segment Toyota was again first (401) followed by Nissan (198) and Ford (197). Positions were also identical year to date – Toyota (638), Nissan (355) and Ford (329).
The Suzuki Swift was the top selling car for the month with 332 sales followed by the Toyota Corolla (272) and the Hyundai i30 with 209. Year to date the top two positions reverse – Corolla ( 1,100), Swift (714) and i30 (521). In spite of stock shortages, the Toyota Hilux was the top selling ‘ute’ [pickup truck] (251) with the Nissan Navara second (189) and the Toyota Hiace van third (139).
